[CLOSED] They say I'm seeking out the danger

[flowerette]

WHO: Raina and Skye
WHERE: An alleyway in Heropa
WHEN: April 25th, midday
WHAT: Surprise encounter
WARNINGS: Possible language, possible violence, Skye might quake out. \o/ will update as needed!

[ Whatever aftermath she has had to deal with when it comes to Chilton, whatever fragile state he's in, Raina doesn't leave his side until she's sure he's stabilized. And even then, it's only briefly -- going out to get him something to eat. She gets out of the cab at a gourmet sandwich shop (only the finest one in town) and as she leans in to tell the cab driver she'll only be a moment, her eyes happen to catch sight of a very familiar face. A face that makes her blood run cold and her body tense. ]

You know what? Nevermind. I think I'll stay a while. How much do I owe you?

[ Recovering enough to offer the driver her award winning smile to which the driver gives her a greatly discounted price, Raina pays up and tips generously before she straightens herself upright, watching the cab drive away. Her attention drifts back to Skye and she cants her head toward the young woman, waiting. She waits until they make eye contact, offers the faintest smirk before she saunters toward the alley between buildings -- the closest they can get to a private encounter. She's sure there are many things Skye has to say, and the least Raina can do is manipulate the situation so they're not causing a scene. ]

Comments

[hackitude]

[Skye isn't sure of what she's seeing, at first-- Raina, out of the corner of her eye? Surely not.

But a second glance proves it has to be her. And she has the gall to walk away from her?

Skye makes chase immediately. The agent side of her brain says this could be a trap. But whatever. She can take Raina in a fight-- or anything she might dish out.]

Hey! ... Hey! [She yells after her and rounds the corner, finally coming face to face with Raina in close range. Her suspicions confirmed.]

[flowerette]

[ Raina is calm on the outside, even though she's seething internally. How is it fair that Skye was able to get everything when all Raina had become was a hideous monstrosity? How is it fair that Skye stole Raina's lifelong dream? But she swallows those emotions down, crossing her arms and even having the audacity to smile in greeting. ]

Skye. Isn't this curious? I'm hardly surprised that it's you and I who found ourselves in this strange, new world.

[hackitude]

Raina.

Yeah, well I've got news for you. I've been here for almost a year. This is my city, so you better back the hell off.

[flowerette]

[ A year? So Raina was right in assuming Skye was still there. Chilton had told her both Ward and Simmons had ported out, but nothing about Skye. ]

A whole year. Well, it seems like only yesterday when I last saw you. It seems like only yesterday when we went down into the catacombs and emerged as what we were always meant to be.

[ She makes a face at that. ]

At least what we were supposedly meant to be.

[ An indifferent shrug. ]

Skye, I have no interest in your city beyond picking up a few salads. And from the looks of things, your city has seen better days.

[hackitude]

[Skye clenches a fist by her side, but keeps her cool.]

You expect me to believe you came all the way here for a salad? Bullshit. What're you really up to?

[flowerette]

Getting a couple of salads for myself and a friend. All of this suspicion does little for your complexion, you know.

1/2

[hackitude]

Oh, right, because it would be so crazy to be suspicious of you after all the shit you've pulled, am I right?

[hackitude]

[Raina's lucky Skye doesn't utterly launch herself at her bodily. The only reasons she hasn't is because she's still scared of what will happen if she loses control, and because she knows how it works with old grudges in new worlds. Raina hasn't done anything arrest-worthy yet. So Skye can do nothing.

It galls her, but them's the breaks. So she grits her teeth.]

Get your salad and go, Raina. And stay away from my city. And my friends.

[flowerette]

But not stay away from you?

[ Her lips quirk in a smile. ]

Right now, Skye, I am the only one who understands what it is you're going through. Or what you will go through if you haven't gone through it yet.

[ She takes an approaching step closer, click clack of her heels on the pavement. ]

You've been here for a year, you said? Well, we took a journey through the mist together. We evolved. Do you really think this city or your friends will understand that?

[hackitude]

I know what I am. I know that if I felt like it, I could drop you like a hot potato into a hole in the ground ten miles deep.

[flowerette]

Do you? Do you really know what you are?

[ Raina stops her approach, keeping a few feet between them. ]

No one's around to stop you from attempting to hurt me, Skye. My gift to you was this alley where not a single person can see or hear a thing. But I don't see why you would feel the need. After all, didn't I get you exactly what you wanted?

[hackitude]

[Skye seethes, trying to keep a handle on it. Keep calm, keep calm, she repeats in her head. But the ground starts vibrating beneath them ever so slightly.]

What I wanted was for my friends and family to be safe. Instead, Trip died down there because of you.

["Because of me." She knows that, really. But it's easier to lash out at Raina.]

[flowerette]

[ Raina feels the slight vibration and tosses a wary glance skyward -- wondering if it has anything to do with the dragon attacks. But there's no sign of a dragon -- there's no sign of anything but her and Skye.

The vibration was either coming from a random Floridian earthquake or from Skye herself. It was far too perfectly timed, in complete sync with Skye's emotions. It must be from Skye, and Raina mentally concludes: so that's what Skye became. ]

You could have left. You could have walked out before we were sealed inside. But you chose to stay. You wanted this just the same way I wanted this. Are you going to try and deny it to me?

[hackitude]

I didn't want any of this! I didn't know-- nobody told me jack shit! It's all, cryptic this, cryptic that! I didn't go down there to transform. That was all you. Ever since I met you, you've brought nothing but pain and misery to me and everyone I know! In exchange for what? Was it worth it, Raina?

[flowerette]

[ That causes Raina to snap, her calm veneer gone and her words a vicious attack. ]

And what did you bring them! It's easy, isn't it? To cast the blame on others. It keeps you from blaming yourself because anger? That's easy. Guilt, on the other hand?

[ She lets the question linger for Skye to digest, narrowing her eyes. ]

I could blame you for stealing what was meant to be mine -- I should blame you. But I am not. I accept this as my fate, my choice. Was it worth it for me, Skye?

[ Raina takes a few slow, ominous steps forward -- thorns exploding through her skin, her face morphing into something humanoid but more serpent-like in nature, hair becoming brittle and pointed, eyes becoming golden, and teeth sharpening. ]

Does THIS look worth it to you?!

[ She hissed the words. ]

1/2

[hackitude]

Stealing-- [she gives Raina a look of total bewilderment.]

How does that even work? You can't steal someone else's DNA. You realise that what you call our "fate" is nothing more than someone else's genetic experiment, right? I didn't steal anything. Whether I'd been there or not, your result would've been the same.

[hackitude]

[When Raina reveals her literal thorns, though, Skye takes a step back. Wary. She studies the other woman for a moment, eyes narrowed.]

... I don't know. Looks like your true self is finally visible on the outside, if you ask me.

[flowerette]

[ Raina sneers at Skye's quip, her expression seeming almost ferocious in its inhuman form. ]

It. Hurts.

[ The thorns start to retract, but they aren't without their pain as they return into her skin. She winces and lets out a soft, muted groan when she returns back to normal. ]

But you're right, Skye. The result would have been the same regardless. Such was my destiny. Except things changed -- and here we are. New world. New powers. Familiar yet unfamiliar faces. You can claim this city for yourself all you want, but you at least have a future in our world; some place to go back to. I have nothing except this new world, and if you think I'm going to let you dictate where I can and can't go...then you might as well open that hole in the earth right now and drop me in it.

[hackitude]

[Skye gives a funny sounding noise that is half choked-scoff, half barked laugh. Whatever it is, it's cynical and without mirth.]

Oh-- yeah! And what a great future that is. Being hunted by Kree scouts, exiled from SHIELD by the very people I considered to be my family, hunted by them so they can-- I don't even know. Put me down? Run tests on me? I might not look like you, but they think I'm just as much a monster as you. My own best friend was championing the giving out of a shoot-to-kill powered people order, before she found out I was one of them.

Where ever I go, I bring death and destruction. [Isn't that something Raina once said? Though not to Skye...] So don't presume like you know anything about my future.

[flowerette]

[ There's a beautiful irony in that statement about knowing Skye's future! One that Raina doesn't know yet, though...

It is a little surprising, given how much SHIELD nurtured Skye that they would be willing to turn on her like that. And Raina has a feeling there's more to the story than what Skye is telling. The way Coulson acted toward her, almost fatherly. He wouldn't authorize her being hunted down and dissected. Like Raina, Skye must have come to this world at an uncertain time. ]

You don't know your future either. Could you have predicted winding up in this world? Could you have imagined being one among hundreds of people who are just as special as you? Things back home? They no longer matter. Regardless of whether or not we went through the mist, we would have emerged here -- our paths really do seem to cross at every turn, don't they?

[hackitude]

... Unfortunately.

Look-- whatever, just. Stay away from my friends, okay?

[flowerette]

I'm afraid I can't promise that, Skye. If your friends happen to also be some of the friends I've made, I'm not just going to stop talking to them.

Perhaps you should leave it up to your friends to decide who to speak with? Or perhaps if you're so married to the idea of you bringing death and destruction wherever you go, you should be the one who stays away.

[hackitude]

You don't want to fight me on this one, Raina. Trust me. If I have to, I'll roast your reputation alive for the whole network to see. I'll tell everybody what a manipulative piece of shit you really are, rather than risk you getting your claws into the people here I care about. I did it with Grant Ward. I can do it with you.

Oh, and before you think you can turn around and do it to me first so I can't-- don't. I've been here longer than you. People here know me. They don't know you. I know you're good, but who do you think they're really going to trust, when it comes down to it?

So just walk away, Raina.

[flowerette]

I think if you tried, you would simply come off as immature and petty -- a child throwing a tantrum.

I saw what an embarrassment you were when Grant Ward arrived.

[ Clearly she went digging back through the archives as soon as Chilton dropped the names to her. ]

Bear in mind, that all of this drama would be for nothing. I have no intentions of doing anything other than live in this world. But if it'll make you feel good about yourself, as though you're some kind of hero, you're welcome to try it, Skye.

[ Raina shrugs indifferently. ]

My biggest connection here is more powerful and more influential than you will ever be. If you want to talk about being roasted alive -- he has a way with words and an elegant tongue that will cut you down to nothing and disintegrate that precious reputation of yours in no time flat. And he will never be won over by you. So do keep that in mind as well.

[ Raina narrows her eyes and goes to walk past Skye because Chilton actually does need her right now and she's wasting time here. ]

[hackitude]

[Skye narrows her eyes but lets Raina pass, arms crossed.]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Sonic.